Musikfest to cut back on Bethlehem services

New fee arrangement aims to reduce costs, better reimburse city.

In an effort to curb costs and better reimburse Bethlehem for its services, Musikfest is trimming the amount of city services it uses during the 10-day summer festival by $50,000.

Bethlehem EMS will no longer be on-site because ArtsQuest, which runs the festival, will be going with another service it hopes will charge a lower rate.

ArtsQuest will provide its own security on festival grounds during the early morning hours, though city police patrols will be beefed up during the busiest times. And the group will be using its own staff, instead of city workers, to clean up the grounds at night.

Such cutbacks will bring Musikfest's bill down to an estimated $235,000 this year under a proposed fee arrangement with the city.

"Our goal was to reduce our costs while reimbursing the city fairly for the service it provides us," said Walt Keiper, ArtsQuest senior vice president.

The fee arrangement, recommended by City Council's Finance Committee on Monday, comes a year after then-Controller Meg Holland called for Musikfest to increase its payments for city services.

Her 2010 calculations showed that the $120,500 the city billed for non-uniformed city services, such as cleaning up litter, fell $46,000 short of what the city actually spent.

The proposal also comes after Musikfest had one of its worst years financially. Bad weather caused Monocacy Creek to flood last year, forcing Musikfest to temporarily close several venues. Officials said the flooding was the main reason the group posted an operating loss of $700,000.

Keiper said ArtsQuest looked to streamline where it could, including trying to provide some of the services in-house.

At the Finance Committee meeting, Police Chief Jason Schiffer emphasized that safety will not be compromised as a result of the proposed agreement.

He said the number of police officers patrolling Musikfest during the weekends will be nearly the same, about 98 percent of last year's staffing. However, police won't be patrolling the grounds after midnight because ArtsQuest will be there.

Meanwhile, police coverage will be beefed up during the busy times. During the peak hours between 7:30 p.m. and midnight on the weekends, coverage will be 102 percent compared with last year, Schiffer said.

He said the city is still negotiating, and a final rate won't be calculated until after the festival in August when individual police officers' salaries are factored in.

Business Administrator Dennis Reichard said the cost of police services will likely top $100,000. Last year, the bill came to $135,842. The controller's office calculated the actual expense of police services in 2011, when factoring in benefits, came to $190,179.

Public Works Director Michael Alkhal said he'll reduce the number of workers assigned to Musikfest duty. In addition to fewer city staff cleaning up, Alkhal said there will be less equipment being used and the electrical bureau won't staff the festival all 10 days.

Such non-uniformed services will go from $115,500 last year to $105,000 this year.

Last year, the city billed ArtsQuest for $15,660 for EMS and $23,426 for fire services. The city will get nothing this year for EMS and $19,034 for fire services.

Councilman J. William Reynolds, chairman of the Finance Committee, said it's important to agree on a fair cost to the city while recognizing the good that Musikfest does for the city. It draws 1 million and, with that, cultural benefits.